I Knew Him
by Zenappa
Summary: The Winter Soldier was meant to be a killing machine, no feelings, no emotions, nothing. No one expected something like this to happen. No one expected her to turn up where she was. No one expected this assassin to recognize the man she was hired to kill. She couldn't remember his name, she couldn't remember her own name, all she could remember was that she knew him. TWS spoilers.
1. Fury

**A/N:** So a wise friend of mine told me that I was perfectly capable of writing 3 stories at the same time so I thought why not. This one is on the shorter side anyway and easier to update. So along with this one, I also have Dear Marvel: Captain America and Once Upon a Time:) Please enjoy and feel free to leave reviews! I love hearing from you all!

A word about the story – it has a bunch of TWS spoilers, like major, and while it may seem like I'm just doing a recap of the story… I promise you, everything is not what it seems;) yeah I'm a sadist I know…

* * *

**Chapter One**

"Get me off the grid!"

Director Fury was currently pissed. After being constantly shot at by his own damn people, he was being chased, still, with virtually nowhere to go. He knew he should have picked a smaller car... He clenched the steering wheel tightly as he shouted at the AI in his car but it stopped responding a while ago. He spun around the corner, clenching his teeth together and focusing on where the hell he could go. He couldn't return to any of the SHIELD bases, not when he didn't even know what was going to happen next. He didn't trust anyone.

As he rounded the corner, his car almost spun out from underneath him and he gripped the siding to stay in place. This couldn't be happening. Who would want him dead anyway? Upon regaining control of the car, he hissed under his breath before swerving the car yet again to avoid more gunfire to his left. This was really getting old.

He had to bash a couple of heads in and explode a few cars before he was able to finally lose the "police officers" that were pursuing him. But what he saw in front of him was far worse when his eyesight came back into focus.

There was a figure down the road, standing in the middle of the street without a care in the world. Fury knew that something bad was going to happen way before the figure lifted up its arm and fired some sort of explosive at the car. He felt himself being lifted up in the car and smashed back on the ground. The numbness was beginning to sink in and for the first time in a long time, he felt panicked.

It was several moments before he moved quickly. He just lay there on the ground with the car collapsing on top of him, just staring at this new figure. Was he behind it all? Long brown hair. Metal arm. Slim physique. Black mask. He couldn't be sure who or what this new figure was but it was about to kill him if he didn't act fast.

It was several moments before Fury finally felt safe underground. Those electric weapons certainly came in handy, especially for creating rather large holes in the ground. A perfect escape route. It took him a minute to get his mind in order before he had to seriously figure out where to go.

And there was only one person he truly almost trusted right now. The Captain.

He crawled his way to the apartment and broke in easily, after picking the lock and removing all evidence of a break in. Biting his lip, he collapsed on the chair by the record player and waited.

If SHIELD was really behind all of this and wanted to kill him, then he had to play dead. But who? That was the bigger question. Who had compromised SHIELD so deeply that his men were willing to kill the damn director? He couldn't be quite sure but he knew that if the truly good agents were to survive, they had to be suspicious of everyone. Even their closest friends.

Upon turning on the record player, he had to bite his lip and sigh softly. This was going to be a long ride to freedom but it was one that he was willing to take. He heard the door open several minutes later and he leaned back further. Sure enough, right on cue, Captain America himself came bursting through the door, shield in tow. Fury could only give a small smile as he relaxed at the sight of him.

There wasn't much he could do except to tell the Captain via sight and not sound everything he knew. SHIELD COMPROMISED, he wrote. EARS EVERYWHERE. Luckily for them both, the Captain took the hint. He would have said more as soon as he stood up but then three bullets passed through his body and he collapsed to the ground.

The last thing he heard was the sound of the door bursting open and Sharon Carter's voice flooding through his head. He gripped the Captain's hand, handing him the flash drive that contained everything he had discovered on the Lemurian Star, thanks to Agent Romanoff.

"Don't trust anyone."


	2. Steve

**Chapter Two**

"Does anyone have an eye on the shooter?"

The words repeated over and over in Steve's head before he finally got to his feet, hearing the footsteps run across the roof across the way. He wasn't even sure of the shooter's location but he wasn't going to lose this chance. Not again.

Grabbing his shield, he darted through the walls, smashing aside walls and desks as he kept one eye on the shooter across the way. Glimpsing a flash of silver just ahead of him, he kept on the shooter's trail, refusing to let this mysterious figure get away. He had already experienced too much death without resolution in his lifetime without adding this one to his list. No, Steve wasn't going to give up this time.

He pushed further and further for his body to run faster as he accidentally slammed into a wall and kept running down the adjacent hallway. Finally, he caught sight of the shooter jumping to the roof just below the two of them from the window and he picked up speed, tearing through the glass as if it was nothing at all. He threw his shield to stop the shooter but then something happened.

Something that had never happened before. Something that he was never expecting. Something that caused him to hesitate for the rest of this so-called mission.

The shooter turned around at the last minute and caught the shield right before it was about to slam into its eyes. Steve stood there in complete shock, meeting the dark eyes of the shooter and memorizing the figure's features. This was the image of an assassin, a dark ghost, and he wasn't going to let him get away with this no matter what. By the time he got his bearings back, his own shield was being flown back into his stomach and he felt himself flying backwards. Groaning slightly, he got to his feet, running to the edge of the building where he had last seen the shooter. But the mysterious figure had disappeared.

* * *

Steve heard the car door slam from outside the window but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the gruesome scene in front of him. Nick Fury, the strongest man that he knew, was lying there in front of him with no chance of surviving. He clenched his jaw, cursing himself for letting the shooter escape and kept replaying that moment over and over again in his head.

Those dark eyes. The wounded scratched up face. The determination. The curved suit fit perfectly to its body. The attention that it gave to its missions. The long brown hair. The metal arm.

It was hard for anyone to identify who the shooter was. Hell, Steve didn't even know if it was male or female. It was a robot. A killing machine with one completed mission... well almost completed. It wasn't looking good.

He heard the door open behind him as Natasha came running in to stand beside him nervously. He wasn't even able to tear his gaze away at all. It was that painful. And judging by the tears welling up in the red-head's eyes, she felt the same way. What the hell was he going to do now?

Shaking his head, he completed droned everything out except for the excessive shouting that the surgeons were doing. No, it wasn't looking good at all.

"Did you identify the shooter?" came her soft words from beside him but still, his eyes stayed glued to the scene before him.

"Strong. Fast. Had a metal arm."

Another figure approached and Steve only had to give her a side glance before he realized that it was Maria. She had come on Fury's orders but now that he was... almost gone, she had no idea why he had called her.

"Ballistics came back," was all she managed to say without breaking down. He meant a lot to everyone and his loss would affect everyone greatly. Steve wasn't an idiot. "Three bullets, clean cut straight through."

Natasha glanced over at the deputy SHIELD director and gave her a curious look. "Soviet made?"

Maria nodded with a frown, "Yeah." No one said anything else but Steve knew that things were going to be different now. Everyone's head was turning and putting together pieces and he knew he would be kept in the dark just like always.

He opened his mouth to say something but then the surgeons started moving and shouting loudly at one another. And that was the moment that not only did Steve know it was the end, but that he would do everything in his power to hunt down this assassin and bring Fury to justice.


	3. Steve II

**Chapter Three**

Steve was on the run. He had nowhere else to go and he was alone, completely alone. He had gotten rid of the only evidence that could have saved him... well not exactly saved him but at least confirmed his thoughts. Fury was right. Everyone was now an enemy.

He stood in front of the vending machine where he had deposited that one thing that he thought would destroy him. Blinded by his own anger, he wanted out of whatever Fury wanted him in. He didn't want to deal with this anymore. He didn't want to see the truth behind the lies he was force fed his entire "new" life. But the master of deception had been right all along.

Steve was ashamed to be considered who he was.

Staring numbly at the glass and the empty tray where he had thrown the drive of secrets and uncoverings, he had no idea where he wanted to go from here. He tugged his hood tighter over his head and bit his lip. What was he going to do? The man with a plan suddenly was planless.

That is, until he heard the pop of a bubble and the familiar red hair appear from behind him.

He spun around instantly, catching Natasha's eye in the glass and grabbed her arm forcefully. After the ordeal he had just been through, he didn't want to consider anyone he had thought was his friend an enemy... but he couldn't be too sure. Not anymore.

She seemed surprised as if she hadn't heard what happened but he had seen her and her lies in action before. As much as he hated to admit it, he had to consider everyone an enemy. Trust no one.

From the instantly panicked look on her face when he shared the information about SHIELD being compromised, he still wasn't entirely convinced that he could trust her but it was a start. And he was relieved.

"I know who killed Fury."

It was funny how that one statement could earn the attention of anyone. He was dead set on finding this shooter and making sure that the machine of sorts never forget what it did. He wouldn't kill him, no he wouldn't stoop to his level, but he was going to make damn well sure that this assassin knew who it was answering to. Captain America wouldn't rest.

Steve looked from side to side before he gave Natasha his undivided attention. She raised a careful eyebrow as his eyes practically begged her to explain.

"Most intelligence agencies don't believe that this assassin exists but those that do call her the Winter Soldier."

As if the name wasn't ominous enough, add in a metal arm and darkened eyes and this... shooter was going to prove more trouble than it was all worth.

Steve almost tuned Natasha all the way out as she went on to explain how she discovered the identity of this Winter Soldier. Something about a mission gone wrong and the Soldier shooting Soviet bullets straight through her and bikinis. He barely even knew what either of them were saying.

All he was focused on was this woman who had messed with the wrong superhero. Whoever this Winter Soldier was, she was going to pay for what she had done.


	4. Pierce

**Chapter Four**

Alexander Pierce was a man of many traits and characteristics. Being scared was not one of these. It simply was not in his nature. Conclusions could be made otherwise, but of course no one knew the man better than himself. He knew what he was capable of and what his plans were. He knew everything about himself. He always had a plan, not unlike that star spangled man, but his were so flawless that they were destined to soar and succeed. He knew that the end was coming near. And boy was he prepared.

The only hiccup in the plan itself was the fact that Rogers had escaped and found refuge with Romanoff. He hadn't planned on the captain surviving the attack, not in the slightest, so that came as a surprise to him. But it didn't matter. He simply had to make another call.

That call led to the very same encounter that was occurring at this moment.

Pierce was walking around the corner into the kitchen of his Washington, D.C. home when he froze, meeting a pair of dark eyes at the table. He stared back for several minutes. Not a word or movement was passed between them for a solid thirty seconds as they seized each other up.

And then. "Do you want some milk?"

It was so casual, so timed and so perfect that anyone watching would have thought Pierce was walking into a timed planned meeting. No one would know that this intruder wasn't actually supposed to be there. Like mentioned before, being afraid was simply not in Pierce's nature. And it wouldn't be, not even at the end.

In silence, Pierce poured himself a glass of milk and sauntered over to the table, dismissing his cleaning lady from the other room and staring back at the intruder. They stayed like that for several moments as if they were old friends who had turned to be strangers.

And then Pierce spoke, sipping his glass of milk and only daring to glance away from the dark eyes for a moment. "The timetable has moved," he said with conviction shining on his face.

He had not been expecting the Captain to get in his way so badly... nor his red-headed friend. And so, he needed them to be eliminated... and what better way to do that than the Winter Soldier herself.

The Winter Soldier sat across from him, not moving a muscle and simply staring at her latest employer without any emotions. She didn't have any to give and besides, she was an assassin and this is what she did. Targets were just that: targets. Nothing more, nothing less. If she had ever known them, she didn't remember.

Pierce started to fill her in on the details but then broke up as the cleaning lady re-entered the house. She rounded the corner and Pierce winced. Casualties.

"Oh, I wish you would have knocked," he said with a slight shake of his head before he picked up his gun laying on the kitchen table and fired two bullets in her stomach. As she collapsed dead on the ground, the Winter Soldier stayed still without a word.

Pierce watched her with a mocked sad expression. "That's a shame," he turned back to the Winter Soldier. "She was a good maid." He polished off his glass of milk and got to his feet, tucking his gun into his back pocket of his jeans. He gestured for the Winter Soldier to do the same and she obliged right on cue. She really was the best assassin around. Almost like a machine.

"Clean up this mess and then we'll talk details in the morning," came Pierce's last claim before he trudged up the stairs to his room.

This was going to be perfect. He had read the Winter Soldier's profile, a perk of being a head of SHIELD. He hadn't thought about it before but this was going to be so poetic. Laughing to himself, he got himself into his bed with a smile on his face. And he got the best night sleep he had had in quite some time.


	5. Steve III

**Chapter Five**

Steve waited patiently or impatiently outside the compound of his old stomping grounds as Natasha walked around with the flash drive in her hand. She was trying to pick up the signal with no luck. He was barely even paying attention to whatever she was doing however. He was too busy staring at the pole in front of him. Memories played across his brain and he stood completely still, not even moving a muscle. Giving a small smile at the image of his younger self, he had to tear himself away before he drowned in his own memories. It wouldn't be the first time.

"There's nothing here," Natasha mumbled, adding something about the signal coming from a remote router or something along those lines. He still didn't understand modern day technology as well as others.

But something caught Steve's eye and he blocked out everything else that she was saying. He may have trusted her but it was only to an extent. He had to focus on his own mission first before he had time to worry about others. If worst came to worst, he would save her but he couldn't be too careful. There was no such thing. He walked over to the entrance to what looked like a weapons cellar, only this wasn't there before. This shouldn't even be here technically.

It took them a few minutes to break inside but once they headed down those steps and saw the giant SHIELD logo plastered on the wall, they knew that they were in the right place. Heaving a sigh, they walked together slowly through the place, stopping in the first room.

Natasha made some comment about how this was the place that SHIELD was started but now... It had obviously been used as something else. Taken advantage of. But as soon as she started talking, Steve wished she had stopped. He froze as he caught sight of a picture hanging in the wall. His breath caught in his throat and he forced himself to look away.

"Howard Stark," Natasha said, glancing at the two pictures on the wall. She recognized the dark-haired man almost instantly because of his son but she tilted her head to one side as she glanced at the second picture. Don't say it. Don't say it. Steve squeezed his eyes shut. "Who's the girl?"

Dammit.

He didn't even answer, just walked away, leaving the picture of Peggy behind.

Visiting her on a weekly basis was painful, especially through her memory loss which was slowly deteriorating her body. He would just start to think that things were getting better and that he could help her regain her strength and she would cough, ending things abruptly. But she was still and always will be his best girl and he wasn't about to give up on her. Ever.

Shaking his head from those thoughts, they headed into the not-so-secret elevator and sauntered into the largest mainframe that Steve had laid his eyes on. The technology looked like something Howard would have created except for the one place to plug the flash drive in. As Natasha obliged, he had the sneaky feeling like this was going to end badly.

He wasn't wrong.

Everything seemed to light up at once and switch itself on which made the duo wary enough. But when a green computer screen directly in front of them popped to life with what looked like a floating head, things became even more shifty. Something wasn't right here. Things went from bad to worse as the computer person began speaking, first identifying who they were through what seemed to be a camera and then revealing himself to be none other than Zola, a German scientist working for HYDRA under Red Skull. Someone that Steve never thought he would hear from again.

The longer the now computerized doctor spoke, the more suspicious and concerned Steve became. And that was never a good thing.

According to Zola, SHIELD had been infiltrated by HYDRA remains long after Steve had been frozen over. Peggy and Howard were walking straight into a trap and everyone knew it except for themselves. Cut off one head and two more grow back... They weren't kidding. From the looks of things, it seemed that there were more HYDRA agents than SHIELD around. And suddenly, everything was strangely starting to make sense. Why Fury was dead. Why Pierce had threatened him. Why the SHIELD agency wanted him dead. It all led back to the same place over and over again. HYDRA.

It had been from the beginning when Steve was first getting into his original war and it was still happening today despite his attempts. He died for nothing.

"Has no one discovered this?"

Zola laughed his typical sinister chuckle, "Accidents happen." Pictures and photographs of Fury's elimination appeared on the screen, causing Natasha to clench her fists in rage beside him. A newspaper clipping from 1991 appeared next, talking about the tragic death of Howard and Maria Stark in a car accident. A car accident. Of course. When someone crossed HYDRA, they didn't win. They were eliminated from the equation all together.

Mashing his teeth together, Steve felt anger boiling up in the pit of his stomach and pulled out his handgun, shooting the screen and causing it to turn black. Moments later however, Zola powered back up on the adjacent computer window. "As I was saying-"

Steve shook his head, an idea popping in his head. He had way too many questions and he figured their time was running out to get them all answered. But he blurted out what was on his mind before he could stop anything else. "What about Peggy? Agent Carter?"

"Steve."

Natasha's warning voice came from beside him and he narrowed his eyes, whipping his head around to face her. She knew. She had purposefully asked about Peggy's picture for a reason because she already knew. Of course. She was the founding member of SHIELD alongside Howard, everyone had to know who she was... But the idea still stuck in his brain.

"She was the head alongside Stark," he pointed out. "Why leave her alone?"

"Steve," pleaded Natasha one last time to which Steve ignored.

Zola chuckled, creating another sheet of paper to appear on the screen. "We didn't," he smirked, zooming in and panning across the obvious death notice on the screen. And that was when all of the blood in Steve's body went cold.

"No," he shook his head. "She's not dead. I visit her every week and we - we talk and - she was not killed off during a mission. This is made up."

"Steve!"

Steve's head flipped back around to glare at Natasha's, ready to deal out a hushing tone for later. But he was taken aback instantly by the complete look of sadness and guilt on her face. Something definitely wasn't right. What had happened.

"He's right," the red-head whispered softly as if she didn't want to tell the story. And frankly, she didn't. "Peggy's gone."

"Then who-"

Natasha shook her head again. "When you came to prior to the Battle of New York, Fury agreed to keep her death from you. It was something that we all agreed that you would not take easily. So we created a scene for you. An actress. A plot line..." She trailed off, unable to say anymore.

Steve didn't say anything for several heartbeats. All of this... was a lie? None of it was real. She was fake, just an actress fed by old lines. He clenched and unclenched his fists, breathing in and out heavily. Why was this all about secrets?

"You knew," he hissed to Natasha. This was definitely getting worse. She could only throw him another apologetic glance before the computerized doctor spoke up again. Honestly, Steve couldn't concentrate. He still had to take down whenever was left and he had a mission to fulfill.

Natasha looked as if she was about to cry and yet, for all Steve knew, it was an act. Just like always. Suddenly, his entire life became one big question. "Fury thought it was best..."

Steve didn't answer, simply turned back to Zola with his teeth clenched. This was just yet another reason why he needed to find this Winter Soldier and her bosses. She was just an assassin, but she could lead him to the source and he could end HYDRA where it lay. Biting his cheek, he held back the words he truly wanted to say.

Truthfully, he barely paid any attention when Zola kept on talking. The words passed through one ear and right out the other. He had gotten the information that Fury had found out about. SHIELD and HYDRA were one and the same. And they killed anyone who stood in their way. Including Peggy.

He wasn't sure who to be more furious at. HYDRA itself for taking these people away or Fury for keeping Peggy's death a secret.

It had affected that much that he barely noticed when Natasha announced that SHIELD had fired a missile upon them. He merely sprung into action like the soldier he was, feeling like it was second nature, and dove into the grates below, making sure to keep Natasha and himself under the shield and safe.

He barely even noticed as the fires of betrayal rained down on top of them.


	6. Natasha

**Chapter Six**

Natasha honestly didn't think that Steve would save her. She, from the orders of others but still, had kept something from him that changed everything in his mind. She knew that it was the right choice during the Battle of New York but after discovering how he visited her every week... She should have said something. Knowing that now, she only hoped that Steve would be able to forgive her someday. She was just starting to realize their relationship, plutonic of course, and start to depend on him as a sort of friend.

But all of that was in jeopardy now.

He still saved you Romanoff, she told herself, shaking her head as she sat on a bed, drying her wet hair. After the bombing had passed, she was still startled and only half conscious from the smoke and ash. She had only recovered completely when they had reached Wilson's house, one of Steve's random friends... someone that they could actually trust around here. That in itself was becoming a rarity.

She hadn't seen either of them since she had collapsed in one of Wilson's spare rooms and her mind hadn't had time to truly process everything yet. She owed Steve big time and they both knew it. But of course, he wouldn't mention it again. That was one thing that infuriated Natasha about Steve. He was such a gentleman all the time... It was kind of hard to hate him.

She tried to imagine how it would feel to lose the one thing that kept her going when times got tough but she found herself not wanting to. She was already full of enough guilt. Teeming as she was, Natasha found herself angry with herself for not realizing the compromise of SHIELD sooner.

She grabbed her phone, not even thinking about the consequences and shook her head, diving straight into the files that she had access to on her phone. At this point, she could care less if she had alerted the world with her SHIELD phone. She owed this to Steve.

She had already dug out the SHIELD tracker from the back of her neck and the phone itself so they wouldn't be so keen on finding her. A signal would still transmit and she knew that she had to be fast. Biting her lip, she scrolled through the files at top speed, looking for something - anything really - that could help her. She froze, saving a few files directly to her phone and printing them on their host's printer, hoping he didn't mind. If this helped regain Steve's trust, it was worth the risk. After what happened with Peggy... She didn't want him to lose another friend too, if that was what they considered each other.

She barely finished when she sighed, clutching the towel to her still dripping hair from her shower. This was going to be a long day and she knew it.

Steve walked in, emerging from the main room in a muscle tank and clutching sheets of paper. He seemed to be rifling through them while holding back his emotions like he had released earlier. He had learned his lesson the hard way. Biting her lip, she watched as he sat down on the edge of her bed and shook his head gently. "So I suppose these are self-explanatory," he said softly.

Natasha shook her head right back at him. "I have no idea," she confessed. "It was the last thing that I did on this phone." To make her point, she pulled out her knife and stabbed it straight through the device, ending its life immediately. Bye bye signal. "I wanted to make it up to you somehow. I am not even sure of the entire story myself."

"You were just looking out for me," Steve said honestly although Natasha could tell by the look in his eye that he was holding back. He was too good of a guy to hold a grudge outwardly, and inwardly too but that was for later. "You only wanted to help me." He nodded which earned an eye roll from Natasha. He should not be thanking her... Making a face, she placed her hand on top of his gently.

"If you ever thank me again," she said sternly. "I probably will cut out your tongue." And they both knew she meant it.

It was a few moments of silence that passed before the steady flow of conversation passed between them once more. Almost like things were back to normal... Almost. Wilson appeared moments later and soon, a plan was struck. Steve was right. They had to take out this Winter Soldier before she did anymore damage. And she knew exactly how she was going to do that.


End file.
